Teen Titans: A Kid's Game by Geoff Johns

It's no secret I dig Geoff Johns. The man just gets the DC universe. He understands what people like about these characters and this universe, and he touches exactly those notes when he writes.

So when he took over the relaunch of the Teen Titans, it's no surprise to anybody that he started doing stories steeped in the history of the Titans comics, but also staying true to each of the characters that populate the new team.

Naturally, the villain in this one is Deathstroke, but it's Deathstroke as you don't expect. Yeah, I'm not going to say more than that--so I still care about spoilers, so what?

So who's in this version of the team? Playing the "mentor" parts are Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy. At this point in the continuity Donna Troy and Jericho are dead and Dick Grayson is leading the Outsiders. Playing the "Teens" in Teen Titans are Tim Drake as Robin, Conner Kent as Superboy, Cassie Sandsmark as Wonder Girl (she's the blond one), and Bart Allen as Impulse.

If you read any of Young Justice, you remember that it was a fairly lighthearted look at the Titans. This book isn't like that at all. Not only is the tone serious, but the story depends on you taking what's happening really seriously.

And for me, at least, that isn't hard. Johns gets what I dig about DC as well as anybody, so he plays the characters right.

That's not to say the book's perfect. There's a bit of a scuffle between the Justice League and the Titans that seems more like it was worked in because it was a cool concept than that it actually grew organically out of the characters. Which is the "I'm Trying To Sound Smart" way of saying--do you really think Wonder Woman would start fighting with Titans before she talked to them, or do you think they just decided Titans fighting Justice Leaguers would make a neat cover, and ran with it?

But the Deathstroke story works great and good foundations are laid for some of the conflicts that come up in some of the later books in the series.

Welcome to Superhero Graphic Novels

Hey, true believers.

I was a teenager at the time when comic books were perhaps more popular than they have ever been. The publishers would crank out sixty seven different versions of a comic book, and guys would run out and buy every single copy, and leave them in the bags unopened.

That wasn't me.

I then, and now, have always bought comics for the stories. I actually care about what happens to these superheroes.

Since then, I grew up, and have found a far better way to get my superhero fix without having to mess around with flimsy comic books or worrying that I'm going to ruin a future collectible.

I buy the graphic novels. The trade paperbacks. The "Collected Editions." Call them what you will, I've got a bookcase full of 'em. Superman, Batman, Wolverine, Spider-man, they're all at the party and they've all come looking for action.

My goal here is to give you an idea of which ones you'd like and which ones you wouldn't--even if you like different sorts of comics than me.

What do I like? Well, I'm a DC guy mostly (When Geoff Johns starts waxing poetic about all the reasons he feels at home at DC, I completely get it), but wouldn't turn in my card in the Merry Marvel Marching Society. It was G.I. Joe that got me into comics, so if a review or two of that group show up here, don't begrudge me just because they're not "Superheroes" in the strictest sense--They were my gateway drug for the rest of them, so I owe them some press time.

So I hope you find any of this helpful, and either way, remember--it's really about the stories.